A Simple Biorefinery Concept to Produce 2G-Lactic Acid from Sugar Beet Pulp (SBP): A High-Value Target Approach to Valorize a Waste Stream
Regiane Alves de Oliveira,
Roland Schneider,
Betânia Hoss Lunelli,
Carlos Eduardo Vaz Rossell,
Rubens Maciel Filho,
Joachim Venus
Affiliations
Regiane Alves de Oliveira
Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Process Control, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Avenida Albert Einstein 500, Campinas 13083-852, Brazil
Roland Schneider
Department of Bioengineering, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy e.V. (ATB), Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
Betânia Hoss Lunelli
Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (PUC-Campinas), Centro de Ciências Exatas, Ambientais e de Tecnologias, Faculdade de Química, Rua Professor Doutor Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini 1516, Campinas 13087-571, Brazil
Carlos Eduardo Vaz Rossell
Interdisciplinary Center of Energy Planning (NIPE), University of Campinas (Unicamp), Rua Cora Coralina 330, Campinas 13083-896, Brazil
Rubens Maciel Filho
Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Process Control, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Avenida Albert Einstein 500, Campinas 13083-852, Brazil
Joachim Venus
Department of Bioengineering, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy e.V. (ATB), Max-Eyth-Allee 100, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
Lactic acid is a high-value molecule with a vast number of applications. Its production in the biorefineries model is a possibility for this sector to aggregate value to its production chain. Thus, this investigation presents a biorefinery model based on the traditional sugar beet industry proposing an approach to produce lactic acid from a waste stream. Sugar beet is used to produce sugar and ethanol, and the remaining pulp is sent to animal feed. Using Bacillus coagulans in a continuous fermentation, 2781.01 g of lactic acid was produced from 3916.91 g of sugars from hydrolyzed sugar beet pulp, with a maximum productivity of 18.06 g L−1h−1. Without interfering in the sugar production, ethanol, or lactic acid, it is also possible to produce pectin and phenolic compounds in the biorefinery. The lactic acid produced was purified by a bipolar membrane electrodialysis and the recovery reached 788.80 g/L with 98% w/w purity.
